Rosea Margarita
by Wierdkid20
Summary: White Diamond has gone, she has given up her physical form to make a child. Domina. Pink Diamond's Former Pearl finds herself with yet another new master, this one so so different from the rest. However Domina's existence does put her in an interesting position, one that could topple the regime that hold's Homeworld together. Companion/Prequel to Domina Alba. Crosspost from Ao3
1. I

Hello everyone! Welcome back to the story of Domina. If you haven't read Domina Alba then thats fine but you might be confused by a few things here. Basically thousands of years ago White Diamond in an effort to understand what Pink Diamond took one of the humans from the zoo and eventually fell in love with ended up having a child together that white diamond gives up her physical form for. This is about what happens after this, before the Main fic Domina Alba. Unlike that story, this one is from the perspective of Pink Pearl who has her own things going on. It might also help if you read my fic Uneven Positioning,though all you need to know from that is that after Pink Diamond was shattered White Diamond took her Pearl. So I hope you enjoy, I'm not promising daily updates but I'm sure going to try! The first few chapters have been looked over by fatetinhourglass from the SU fanfic discord and my occasionally present beta reader missConductor. Thanks to them for putting up with my nonsense.

White Diamond's quarters aboard the main flagship had changed much in the years since Vitus had been taken from the zoo. Now, in the last nine months, they had changed again. Pink Pearl paced in the renovated room. Instead of a pristine white, like the rest of the ship, the walls were made a warmer cream - something that Vitus had assured them would be more soothing. Pearl stared at the chair sitting next to a small bassinet, a small cloth animal figurine placed in it. There was a chest full of more clothes, one full of objects that she had watched Vitus make over the last few months that he referred to as 'toys'. She had forgotten how fast humans changed.

Pink Diamond had only superficially been interested in humans. But Pearl still remembered how caught up the Diamond got in watching their all too short lives.

She paced around the room. She had no clue how long this was supposed to take. Everything had already been arranged and rearranged. Pearl had to admit she really hadn't thought this would work. Human and gem biology shouldn't be compatible. And now, White Diamond was giving up her form, and there was going to be this.. hybrid. It completely discounted the madness that was the idea of the supreme ruler of gem kind giving up her form, and for what? To add some flexibility to the authority? Pearl couldn't even fathom why the Diamond would have thought of such a thing.

Vitus appeared in the doorway, as if on cue. There was a redder tinge to his normally brown skin, his black hair was dishevelled, and he was cradling carrying a small white bundle. He smiled at her, but it was tense.

"I was wondering where you were at." He said, stepping into the room. Pearl bowed slightly, more out of habit than anything, protocol had always gotten a little bit hazy when Vitus got involved.

"My-White..." Pearl stared at the bundle and shook her head. "She did not want me there."

"Ah." Vitus said. He gently sat on the chair and stared at the bundle.

"Is that..." Pearl asked

"Domina." Vitus said. "It means ruler. White said that it would be 'acceptable'," he snorted slightly. Pearl moved closer in an attempt to glance over the edge of the cloth. "Here." Vitus said, he stood back up and gently arranged her arms before setting the infant in her arms. Pearl didn't need to breath, though like most gems she did out of habit, now though she held her breath. There was an irony about a Pearl supporting a Diamond, but the thing in her arms was far from the intimidating figure of a diamond. The infant, Domina, was asleep and looked at first glance much like her father. Her skin and hair were dark, but they shimmered with an iridescence that only White Diamond had. Then, of course, there was the gem that took up almost her entire forehead. Pearl gently brushed aside Domina's hair from the gem and the infant's eyes opened. She drew a breath in surprise and watched as the infant blinked and yawned, then waved her arms in the confining cloth.

"Hello Domina, My Diamond."


	2. II

**One more chapter after this of baby Domina on planet, then we get into the meat of the story. Hope your all enjoying this so far and I'd love to hear from you either in the comments or on my tumblr where you can find me by the same username as I am here. I** **f you have any scenes you'd like to see I'd love to hear them.**

 **Enjoy!**

Human infants developed quickly. Within a year, Domina had a grasp on rudiments of both latin and the Gem language. Where White Diamond had disapproved of idle chatter, Domina babbled almost incessantly.

Within another year, Pearl was having a harder time keeping up with her as she toddled, then walked and then ran all around the rooms that made up White Diamonds quarters. She had met the crew onboard the ship, though only within the confines of their section of the ship. Vitus was very insistent of her not being allowed to wander and get in the way of the skeleton crew on board the orbiting drop ship. The crew, consisted of Mossy Agate, two Nephrites, six senior Peridots and a squad of Milky Quartz with an Enhydro Agate. None of them really know what to think of the hybrid diamond and while they were always polite when they came to see her, they were uncomfortable around her, possibly more so than they ever had been around White Diamond herself.

Vitus was on the planet below, assisting with a survey for a report back to homeworld, so Pearl was alone with Domina, who two minutes ago she swore had just been playing in the corner of her room while Pearl cleaned and made notes for another order from the Human zoo. Now though Pearl was frantically scouring the rooms in their section of the ship. She even checked the locked rooms, the ones Domina shouldn't even be able to get into. When it became obvious the girl was definitely not where she was supposed to be, Pearl ventured into the ship, methodically checking every room. No one stopped her, the Quartzes were planet-side with Vitus and any of the other crew members were too caught up in their own tasks.

Domina wasn't in any of the surrounding rooms. Pearl was beginning to wonder if it was possible for the girl to have climbed inside the ventilation system or even one of the other tubes and shafts that dotted the dropship. Would they hear her if they got stuck? Pearl panicked more, going through the remaining rooms frantically, before finally bursting onto the bridge.

All gems turned to look at her. One of the nephrites looked up from the computer console and two Peridots turned to look at her briefly then turned back around. Mossy Agate, the Agate in charge of all day to day operations on board the fleet ship, White Diamond's most respected agate, was sitting towards the front , her console screens open showing plans for the colony down below. Domina was in her lap. Pearl sighed in relief, Mossy Agate had turned the chair to see her and the moment Domina saw her she scrambled off the chair.

"Puhl! Salve!" Domina said, running over flat footed, chattering excitedly about something Mossy had been showing her.

"My Diamond, you should not have run off like that." Pearl said softly kneeling down. Domina held her arms out to indicate that she wanted picked up. Pearl did so and when she straightened herself Mossy Agate was standing in front of them, arms behind her back.

"Mossy Agate." Pearl said. Domina chattered on, mostly nonsense babbling, with vague approximations of words thrown in. "I apologize, Vitus has told me that she-my Diamond would be wandering more as she has gained large motor movement abilities. I do hope she hasn't caused any distractions."

Mossy Agate shook her head and smiled slightly at Domina who had now stopped talking and was clinging to Pearl. The girl had buried her head into the juncture between pearls shoulder and her neck. Pearl could feel her heart rate and breathing slowing and guessed she was about to fall asleep.

"She was not. She took great interest in the structuring of 19-H25, perhaps," Mossy Agate frowned. "Perhaps I will speak with Vitus, He should know that our Diamond is never 'in the way'," Mossy glanced at the other members of the control room. They quickly averted their eyes and went back to work.

"White Diamond did ask me to make sure her child understood the inner workings of the fleets operations." The agate trailed off and Pink Pearl nodded.

"If you will excuse me Mossy Agate, My Diamond does need to rest." Pearl said, though the girl was already apparently comfortable enough to fall asleep in Pearls arms.

"Yes yes." Mossy said waving her hand and walking back towards her terminal, "That will be all."

Pearl pushed down a momentary bristle of irritation as she left the room. The Mossy Agate may be the highest ranked gem on the ship but that in no way gave her the authority to dismiss a Diamonds Pearl in that fashion. Pearl smoothed the hair from sleeping domina's face after gently laying her down in her bed. Even if her Diamond was... unusual.


	3. III

**Hey everyone! This most recent chapter is the last before we head to homeworld! I promise the story will get more Pink Pearl-centric once we get there, and I do have to say I'm really looking forward to writing some of these upcoming scenes.**

 **Also l** **ike any writer I crave feedback and would love to hear from you. I know commenting is hard (I have problems thinking of things to say all the time) so if your having issues here's some things you could comment on:**

 **What you liked/Didn't like**  
 **Scenes or lines that felt on point or really resonated with you.**  
 **Scenes or lines that were out of character or felt awkward.**  
 **Inconsistancies with Canon (the show's or this particular stories) that you noticed.**  
 **Things you'd like to see more/less of**

 **I appreciate every comment I get deeply, (like squealing over them when they show up in my inbox, and smiling like a dork all day) and I try to make sure I reply to all of them.**

 **So, enjoy!**

Perhaps unusual was not a strong enough word for Pearl's Diamond. When the three of them moved to the planet Domina immediately began to get to know all the gems there. Not just the Agates and Bixbites that were head of the fleets main operations as even her mother would associate and confer with them regularly.

But Domina also sought out the Rutiles on the Exploratory Teams, the Peridots that set the injectors, and the assorted Rubies on guard duty.

Vitus, while not noticing as many things that were odd to gems, was quick to confide to Pearl that his daughter was not quite normal from a human perspective either.

She was far taller than a human her age would be, and very thin, with arms and legs oddly proportioned. She also was progressing in her education faster than he had anticipated. Domina learned to read gem in under a month and once she had done that she voraciously devoured any bit of information she could get her hands on. She blew through basic mathematics, algebra and basic trigonometry, then had to be turned over to a Peridot who could teach her more advanced subjects. She could recite latin poems and stories, had a grasp on human anatomy.

From her reading she learned about star, planets, the composition of elements. She copied the Quartzes in their drills and Pearl in her occasional idle dancing if pearl didn't notice quickly enough. It wasn't before long that Vitus discovered that she had talked a nephrite into teaching her how to fly the dart like pods that the dropships contained.

"I just don't know what to do." Vitus said while they were alone. He was slowly writing up a report for Yellow Diamond on Domina's progress, typing slowly on the terminal. "i'm running out of things i can teach her. I was never... ' he trailed off and pearl tried not to look curiously at him "My brother was always the smart one, he studied in Athens, I didn't."

"Well, forgive me Vitus but it seems that the fleet is more than willing to fill in the gaps in her knowledge." Pearl said, she was allowing more length into dominas clothes, again.

"Yes, yes, I can see that, it just.. her education is supposed to be my responsibility." Vitus said."I know I can't offer much, and we both know that White wouldn't have left her in my care if it wasn't for the fact that no one else on board had any idea of what to do with a child."

"I don't think that's true." Pearl said, the same worry she got every time she spoke with Vitus on equal grounds. He looked at her the despair and irritation still evident on his face. Pearl set aside the finished tunic and picked up another.

"My...White... She thought that Domina would need a human element in her life to help her truly meet her potential. She said she was worried about Domina being forced into an inflexible role as opposed to being allowed and willing to bring her ideas for the empire to fruition."

Vitus opened his mouth - maybe to agree, maybe to make a retort. He was interrupted by the door blasting open with a force of wind and the sound of screaming. Vitus outpaced Pearl with no contest, weaving past Quartzes and leaping over Rubies then shoved past two agates into the Quartzes training room. Pearl managed to peek from between the agates only to be shoved back with the rest of them gems by another wave of wind which was accompanied with another wail. Aerokinesis was a power that White Diamond had possessed but rarely used. Domina had discovered it a little less than a year ago but hadn't quite mastered it, so the base had become used too the faint wind that seemed to follow Domina's exuberance or her disappointment. They hadn't experienced anything like this.

Pearl managed to extridite herself from the pile of groaning agates and quartzes. She braced herself against the wind and could see Domina sitting in the middle of the room, gem glowing brightly, clutching her hand and screaming as dark red blood streamed from it. Vitus was slowly making progress, shouting in Latin through the howling wind at Domina. Slowly, as the words reached the girl, the winds slowed and died until all that was left was Vitus holding a sniffling Domina.

All the surrounding gems got to their feet and watched as Vitus walked calmly to the door, speaking softly to domina.

"Someone get the medkit from our quarters, Pearl, if you could take her please." Vitus said holding out the girl to Pearl. Pearl cradled Domina, like she had when she was a toddler, Domina still cried and buried her face into Pearls shirt. "What happened?" He said talking to no one in particular. "How did she cut her hand?"

"One of these clods must have left a physical weapon lying around." The Enhydro Agate jumped almost immediately reaching to summon her whip, turning on the Milky quartzes.

"No!" One of them, a quartz with a chest gem protested "We would never!"

"It was my sword!" Domina cried, Pearl took the medkit from a Ruby who had melted the handle ever so slightly in her worry. She paused though as did the rest of the base.

"You don't have a sword, Domina." Vitus said. Pearl gently opened and cleaned Domina's hand revealing the flesh nearly cut to the bone.

"It came out of my gem, like 9ZQ-OW!" Domina jerked as the antiseptic touched her wound.

"My apologies my Diamond, I will need to seal the wound. It will sting a little bit." Pearl said retrieving the laser suture. Domina whimpered slightly and there was a light breeze that blew through the crowd as she closed her eyes to brace herself.

There was a soft murmur from the group of gathered gems.

"What? Isn't that normal, I thought all gems summoned weapons." Vitus said raising his voice slightly in worry. Pearl Finished her work as Mossy Agate dismissed the gathered gems, leaving the four of them in the corridor with Milky Quartz 9ZQ.

"Can you kiss it better?" Domina asked still sniffling. Pearl chuckled and kissed the hand that now bore a faint scar along, then kissed her forehead before tuning into the conversation.

"I swear by the stars I'm not making it up." the Milky Quartz said looking between Vitus and Mossy Agate. "Her gem glowed and this sword came out partially and she grabbed it and pulled and cut her hand."

"That's impossible." Mossy agate said, possibly not for the first time. Pearl stood, picking Domina up again to stand by Vitus. "Diamonds don't summon weapons,"

"Well," Vitus looked at Domina and gently brushed her hair from her gem. "This one does."


	4. IV

**Alright first off I apologize, We're not actually on homeworld today, but we are on our way! This chapter ended up longer than I really wanted so I cut it in half. Tomorrow though we will learn exactly how bad Yellow Diamond is with kids. I am beta less on this story, purely for speed reasons, but I am trying to be careful with spelling and grammar. So thanks to everyone who has left comments or kudos so far. Thanks for sticking along this far and I hope you like what comes next.**

 **enjoy!**

Before Domina was born, White diamond had a plan. Domina would stay with the fleet primarily, seeing how average gems worked and lived. She would be taught by Vitus, with assistance from other gems as necessary, for the first 12 years of her life. Then Domina would spend the next 12 on Homeworld and the inner colonies, learning from Yellow Diamond what it meant to be a leader of gems.

But even knowing all this, twelve years from the first time she held her, Pearl still wasn't ready. She stood off to the side and watched Domina and Vitus say goodbye. Everything had already been packed aboard a sleek homeworld shuttle. Domina was dressed in new clothes modelled after White Diamond's form. She looked excited as she hugged her father and then Mossy Agate and several other gems in quick succession before sprinting on to the ship, ready for her next 'adventure'. Pearl turned to follow only to be stopped by Vitus's hand on her shoulder.

"Look I know she'll probably be safer there than anywhere else in the galaxy." He said after she had turned around, the other gems had left, they were alone in the hanger. Vitus handed her a blaster, the type that Nephrites generally carried planetside. Pearl's eyes went wide and she recoiled from the object.

"Vitus! I would be shattered if-"

"No one's going to shatter a diamonds pearl." He said "I know that much, Please,please take it. I'm not going to be there to protect her."

"Vitus, she's a diamond she doesn't need you to protect her," Pearl said, Vitus still held the blaster out to her.

"She's a child, even now, she will need someone to look after her." Vitus said, he looked worried and upset and stared at the open door to the shuttle with a look that suggested that he was seriously contemplating dashing onto the ship himself. Fighting every programmed instinct Pearl took the blaster, it felt heavier in her hand than it realistically should be. She stored it in her gem,

"I will." She said. Vitus hugged her and clapped her heartily on the back like she was a quartz.

"Thank you," He said pulling away, "Stay safe, both of you."

On board a soft breeze blew through the ship as the door closed. Domina was chattering to the Feldspar who had been assigned to pilot the ship. The Feldspar looked fittingly confused as the Diamond asked her technical questions about the ship.

"My Diamond," Pearl said just barely loud enough to get the girls attention. Domina spun around instantly

"Yes Pearl?"

"Perhaps we should leave the Feldspar to her work," Pearl was not oblivious to the ship's pilots disapproving stare. A Pearl even daring to suggest what her Diamond should do? Unheard of. "I believe you had something's you wished to discuss about Homeworld?" Pearl said choosing the remainder of her words carefully. Dominas face broke into yet another excited smile.

"Right!" She said. The breeze trailed with them back into the passenger compartment of the shuttle. Pearl ensured the door was closed before saying anything else.

"My Diamond there are some things you should know." Pearl said clasping her hands in front of her carefully. Domina chuckled and flopped ungracefully onto a seat, the cape getting tangled behind her.

"What kind of things My Pearl?" Domina said with a grin. Pearl knew this was going to be uncomfortable. But Domina had to know, homeworld was going to shatter her world view.

The Fleets crew had been talking in hushed whispers for months about whether Domina would still be they're Domina when she came back or if she would be the 'White Diamond' she was supposed to be.

"Domina." Pearl said holding her hands tightly and looking directly at the girl "I need you to take this seriously." She said, they both had had versions of this conversation before. Domina was not the best at taking things seriously on normal days, much less so when she was excited. Domina's smile faded and the wind died down. She sat up straight as Pearl felt herself go absolutely frigid, how could she even dared to talk to her Diamond in such a way. Then Domina nodded.

"Right, sorry. What do I need to know?" She said. Pearl relaxed and remembered that this was Domina, not White Diamond.

"Homeworld is much less flexible than the fleet when it comes to a gems position in life," Pearl began, Domina didn't say anything just got a look on her face that always prefaced a round of questions. "Meaning I will be attending to you as a Pearl should, you must not draw attention to it."

"Why not? Why would you have to act any different?"

"That's just how things are My Diamond" Pearl said patiently. Domina frowned.

"That's still ridiculous. It shouldn't be any different." She folded her arms and leaned back into the wall. "The Fleet is still part of the empire."

"It is, though the rules do tend to become a bit more lax, as long as the proper results are achieved."

"What rules?" Domina asked, The breeze was almost completely gone as Domina concentrated fully on the conversation.

"Well" Pearl hesitated, the fleet in general had avoided discussion of the gem hierarchy, especially with Domina around. White Diamond wanted her removed from it for her formative years, a fact that was probably going to backfire now. "Pearls are servants, Quartzes are warriors, Agates are commanders, Peridots are Technicians-"

"Yes I know that. That's how things are on the fleet." Domina said waving her hand.

"It is, but in the fleet you have seen Quartzes that assist with kindergarten construction. You have seen Peridots that go on site surveys." Pearl continued patiently "That doesn't happen on Homeworld." Domina didn't say anything for a long moment. She turned to the screen that projected the space outside the shuttle and stared at the stars that they passed. Pearl did her best not to fidget. To not worry and too push out the worries about how much Domina would change.

"Alright." Domina said finally,though Pearl could tell she was frustrated "I'll try." She scooted to the side of the seat and looked at Pearl hopefully. Pearl smiled slightly and sat next to her. Domina leaned very slightly against Pearls shoulder, an action that had become much more awkward now that Domina was roughly eye level with Pearl. "But I knew Homeworld would be different, It'll be an adventure. Like Hercules went on." She said. Pearl didn't say anything in response. She had a sinking feeling that Homeworld was something she couldn't protect Domina from.


	5. V

**Here we are everyone! Homeworld! I was really excited to write this chapter but it still took longer than I thought, Yellow Diamond is really freaking hard to write and I love her so much. Well I hope you guy's are enjoying reading this story so far and I'd love to hear from you either here or on tumblr. Please don't be shy!**

 **Thanks for reading, see you tomorrow!**

When Homeworld came into view, Domina's jaw dropped and she quickly moved to the screen in an attempt to get a closer look. Pearl knew the girl had been off planet a handful of times, mostly tagging along on supply runs to nearby gem bases.

Homeworld though, Homeworld far surpassed any base in the middle of nowhere. The ship took the scenic route through the planet on it's way to the docking station in Yellow Diamonds main district. They flew past great spires, and through high arches. The Diamond Flagship, White Diamonds warship came into view and Domina gasped in awe. Finally the shuttle landed gently in a hanger.

Domina got up vibrating with excitement and Pearl quickly moved to open the door. She schooled her features to become impassive. Outside the shuttle the Feldspar waited as a group of rubies unloaded the cargo compartment for transfer of Domina's luggage to the flagship where they would be staying while on homeworld.

The moment Domina set foot outside the ship every gem in the hanger snapped a salute,Pearl nearly ran into her when the Diamond stopped in the doorway frozen.

"Um...thank you?" She said to the room awkwardly, glancing back at Pearl who stared straight ahead hoping beyond hope that Domina would remember what they had talked about. Pearl heard Domina take a deep breath and then Pearl followed her off the ship. Meeting the pair towards the center of the hanger was Yellow Diamond's Pearl.

"Your brilliance," Yellow said bowing low, her voice was nasal as ever. "My Diamond has requested that I direct you to her personal quarters so that she may speak with you." Pearl saw Domina looking between the two pearls in astonishment.

"You look just like Pearl." Domina said with a grin, the breeze was back, light enough to ruffle both pearl's skirts. Pearl resisted to urge to smile at Yellow's momentarily baffled look. "Oh sorry!" Domina's face turned red "I'd love to talk to her, please lead the way." She said.

Yellow saluted and turned to lead towards the warp pad. Domina started walking then slowed when she noticed that Pearl was walking behind her. Pearl also slowed down, staying behind Domina. "What are you-" Domina started to ask, Pearl cut her off with a gentle tap of her own gem. Domina slumped slightly and nodded then followed Yellow Pearl up onto the pad. In the warp stream Yellow glanced at Pearl out of the corner of her eye. Pearl gave her a reassuring smile. Yellow slowly looked at Domina, then back at Pearl as if to say 'Is this really her?' Pearl simply nodded.

The Warp steam dissipated and the group was standing just inside the large hall that led to Yellow Diamonds personal chambers. Pink Pearl could count on one hand the amount of times she had been here. Domina was staring out the window at the city beyond. The girl was so entranced that she walked right into the door before Yellow Pearl had finished opening it.

"Oh your brilliance I'm so sorry, I should have been faster I ap-" Yellow Pearl began to babble. Domina rubbed her face.

"Sorry, It's not your fault," She said smiling. "I wasn't paying attention. And you don't have to call me that, I'm just Domina." The doors slid open. Yellow Pearl still looked like she was about to poof herself. But she still made her way into the room and bowed low before Yellow Diamond.

Yellow Diamond stood when Domina entered the room, Pearl closed the door behind them then retreated to her customary place at the side of the room next to Yellow Pearl. Domina glanced helplessly at Pearl who gave her a reassuring nod. Then craned her head back nervously at Yellow Diamond and smiled, the wind around them had weakened to a timid breeze. Both diamonds stared at each other, neither seemed to know how to proceed.

Finally, Domina's gem glowed and she took a short leap into the air. Very shakily she began to rise, until she was roughly eye level with Yellow Diamond. She smiled, a little stronger this time.

"Hello," She said. Yellow Diamonds face was impassive, Pearl had to wonder if she was intentionally imitating White Diamond's mannerisms. The Diamond nodded.

"Hello, I suggest we dispense with the pleasantries and get to work." Yellow Diamond said. The room shifted slightly and a small dais appeared next to the chair she had gotten out of moments before. Domina looked surprised but landed on the platform with a slightly stuttering fall.

"Right, of course." She said, still keeping her smile, the breeze was back, maybe a little more noticeable than before. "Where do we start?"

"So that's her then?" Yellow Pearl said softly as Yellow Diamond and Domina talked with each other.

"That's her." Pink Pearl replied.

"She's not what I expected."

"I don't see how anyone could have expected her."

"Is she always like this?"

"Like what?"

"So.." Yellow Pearl frowned and mulled over her words for a moment before lowering her voice even more. "Well, pardon me for saying but she seems more like a new made Ruby than a Diamond."

"She's half human, they're not fully developed until they've aged 18 years."

"That's insane,"

"That's what organics are like. Have you seen Blue?"

"Not in the last decade. Her diamond has been off mourning. My Diamond doesn't have that luxury, she's been doing the work of three for the last 12 years."

"Well hopefully Domina will be able to take some of the load off."

"I hope so, she's been more high strung than ever,"

"That's something coming from you."

"Precisely." Yellow Pearl said. Pink Pearl smiled and directed her attention back to Domina who was looking mildly overwhelmed listening to an impromptu history lesson from Yellow Diamond, that one of her innocuous questions had spurred.

"Post rebellion the process has of course changed thousands of times in an attempt to avoid planets with sentient life due to-"

"What rebellion?" Domina piped up. Pearl could feel the tension in the room grow sharp. Yellow Diamond's calm facade dropped and she stared at Domina. Then for the first time Pearl found herself the focus for Yellow Diamond's terrifying gaze. It didn't last long, Yellow Diamond stood and turned from the room holding her fists that were now sparking with electricity.

"It's not important." Yellow Diamond said, she turned seeming to have calmed down "You should go, I will have my Pearl redirect the information and requests for the outer colonies and the fleet to you. There will be a list of the Beryl's in charge of them you may contact if you have questions. We will reconvene later this week."

"But-" Domina began, Pearl caught her glance from the side of the room and shook her head rapidly. "Alright, thank you." Domina said uneasily.

"What did I say wrong?" Domina asked as they warped aboard the flagship.

"Nothing my Diamond." Pearl reassured her. The wind had followed them into the warp stream but dissipated out as the landed.

"But I had to of, Should I know about a rebellion? Why didn't anyone tell me about-" Domina stopped her nervous line of questioning and gazed around. The Flagships entry hall was vast, made only emptier by the sheer expanse of pure white. "Oh." Domina said.

"Yes I believe the rubies put your things in Whi-your-" Pearl frowned.

"In Mother's personal room?" Domina asked. Pearl sighed with relief.

"Yes."

"Is it as big as Yellow's room?" Domina asked, the wind was nearly a tempest in this area. Pearl hesitated and then gently set a hand on Domina's shoulder. The girl relaxed and the winds slowed.

"Yes."

"Is there somewhere smaller we could stay?" Domina asked. Pearl stared at her then shook off her surprise.

"There are some storage rooms on the lower levels, they're about the size of you and your father's quarters on 19-H25." She said hesitantly. Domina nodded.

"Lets stay there, and I want to call Pater."

"Of course my diamond."

"And Pearl," Domina said tugging uncomfortably at the cape and starting at the floor. "I'm just Domina."


	6. VI

**So this chapter happened, though I'll admit it's not exactly what I wanted and it is certainly no "Little Rebellions" but finally we get to the part of the story that's going to have wide ramifications in a future...sequel...that should be started sometime after we finish this story! Thanks to everyone who has left comments and faves so far! and to everyone whose reading this! I hope you enjoy the chapter and what comes next. See you tomorrow!**

Pearls were made to stand around looking nice and hold your stuff for you. They sang, they danced, and no one expected much more from them. Though that wasn't neccesarily true amongst all gems.

Many used their Pearls to do basic administrative tasks. Yellow Diamonds Pearl often fielded her diamonds calls and summarized reports. White Diamonds first Pearl had sifted through reports for future colony sites and even made suggestions on utilization of their resources.

Even Pink Diamonds former Pearl had been tasked with keeping an eye on White Diamonds 'temporary' human and ordering the materials necessary to keep him alive. So when the first flood of several thousand requisition requests, status updates and court cases appeared in the inbox of Domina's portable terminal Pearl took one look at Domina's overwhelmed expression and offered to sift through a majority of the work herself.

This meant of course that Pearl's stripped down account, that she rarely used for anything more than ordering supplies, was much more active. And that meant that she nearly didn't notice a message sent without a subject line, and without a return sender appear in her inbox amongst a swath of requests for beryls for Blue Diamonds court. Domina was asleep in the next room. After she had nearly passed out on her own terminal several time in the past hour she had decided to go to bed. So Pearl was alone, and she opened the message.

 _You have what we Need._

 _help those Unseen._

 _in what has been forgotTen we wait._

 _Until the cycles have Passed number eight._

Pearls first reaction was to wonder who in the stars name sends secret messages in cryptic poetry. Her second reaction questioned the capitalization. And her third and much more delayed reaction, that came just before she was about to press 'delete', was that the message was encoded. What made it worse was that she recognized the code from briefings she had attended with her first Diamond.

It was a basic cipher that the rebellion had used to communicate with traitors on the empire's side. The capitalizations combined with word number gave you a set of coordinates on a map that in descending orders of specificity, showed where the meeting was supposed to take place.

In this case a place that was 'forgotten' which, once she double check against a map, was the old kindergartens in the place where the three districts of homeworld met.

Now a proper pearl would inform her owner in an attempt to prove her worth and to save her own nacre. But Pearl knew that if she told Domina about this Domina would want to check it out herself. And she had her suspicions that if she showed up to a clandestine meeting with a diamond in tow, it wouldn't go well for any parties involved.

Her own gem's pinkish light illuminated her way as Pearl descended into the forgotten caverns of homeworld, by her own calculations she would have at least 4 hours to get there and back before Domina awoke and noticed she was gone. The tunnels twisted and turned and finally opened into a large empty cavern. Pearl glanced around with a frown and was about to project a map from her gem to double check her location when someone grabbed her from behind and covered her mouth.

"Are you alone?" A voice said lowly, it clearly belonged to another pearl "I'm going to move my hand so you can answer, please don't scream." after a beat the hand moved.

"Obviously I'm alone, who are you?"

"I told you she'd come." another Pearls voice said. This one soft and not much more than a whisper but Pink Pearl recognized it. She attempted to turn but was held still by the pearl who had grabbed her initially.

"Don't move." The pearl said, before moving her hands, inspecting Pink Pearl for any tracking devices, the familiar voice moved into view.

"Good to see you again Pink." Blue Diamond's Pearl said.

"Blue I thought you were off planet."

"I was, my diamond's ship needed refueling. Jet, leave her alone, I trust her."

"We can't be too careful" The pearl behind her said warningly

"I know, but it's only the three of us, that much is clear."

"Blue what is going on." Pink Pearl asked turning to divide her attention between the two gems. Jet was black, her outfit actually similar to Pearl's own, with ruffled elbow length sleeves and a short skirt, but her leotard was one piece instead of two. Her gem was on her left eye and she looked far more intimidating than a pearl had any business being.

"Yellow has told me you've become essential to White Diamonds administration."

"Domina's. White Diamond is gone."

"Well that's a matter of perspective isn't it?" Blue asked. Jet looked confused but didn't question either of them.

"Perhaps, but if you met her herself you would know she is nothing like White Diamond."

"Very well, but what I said previously is true?"

"I..suppose. I've been simplifying things for her, she has to sleep and take care of biological functions so there's less time for her to tend to matters as normal."

"That does make things simpler for us."

"You still haven't told me what 'us' is Blue." Pink said with a frown. Jet shifted uncomfortable, looking at the entrances to the chambers for any signs of more gems.

"Since the rebellion failed there have been many that saw how much it destabilized the authority." Blue began, "and they have thought that if the situation was handled with a little more... finesse then perhaps some real change could be made."

"So we're talking about treason then."

"Obviously,"

"Why in stars name would I want to be involved in this. If you don't remember that 'destabilization' is what landed me in white diamonds court in the first place." Pink said her voice rising just a little bit.

"Yes I know Pink, and trust me when I say your involvement will be purely from the shadows, more so than even mine is."

"We don't need numbers." Jet said speaking up for the first time. "We have numbers, there's many Pearls, ownerless and otherwise that are more than willing to help."

"Jet is the rebellion's commander. She was a fan of the renegade," Blue smiled slightly at the other pearl. If Jets form could turn any darker Pink was sure it would have. "What we need is supplies."

"The fleet is constantly upgrading weapons and technology." Jet said. "If you could redirect even a fraction of what they decommission to us we could start to stand a chance against the authority." Jet said. Pink Pearl frowned.

"What's in it for me?" Pearl said. There was a pause and Pink looked directly at Blue, attempting to make eye contact through the other gem's bangs. "I'm not White, Blue, I may have her position but I have no inclination to join some rebellion that's almost certainly doomed to failure."

"You don't care about the rest of the Pearls or about any other gem under the Diamonds tyranny?" Jet asked the disapproval obvious in her voice.

"Do you remember what happened after the last rebellion?" Pink Pearl asked spinning to face the black pearl. "Do you remember every Rose Quartz disappearing suddenly? Do you remember the crack down on Pearls travelling alone? Do you remember an entire planet just wiped out for daring to host a group of rebellious gems? It happened less than half a century ago! It's too soon and it's too dangerous!"

"We're not talking about charging at one of the palanquins, or sabotaging kindergartens Pink." Blue said. "We're going to be careful, and we're going to be as unseen as any pearl is. Please. Will you help us?" She brushed her hair aside slightly and looked at Pink pleadingly, "Yellow say's your diamond has been miserable since she got here, this could be a way to free her from all this. We both know that the system is bad for every gem involved in it. Help us take it down."

Pink Pearl didn't say anything for a long time. She remembered the smiles from Domina that had stopped in the months they had been on Homeworld. She remembered the fears from the fleet about who their hybrid child was going to turn into. And she remembered feeling helpless every time Domina attempted to argue with yellow diamond on some part of Homeworlds caste system. Pearl sighed.

"Fine. But If it seems like I'm going to get caught I'm done, I need to be there for her." She said. Blue nodded.

"I understand, Jet will fill you in on what we need and where it needs sent. And Pink? Thank you."


	7. VII

**So I apologize yet again on multiple accounts, this chapter was supposed to be up earlier in the day, but real life stuff got in the way. This chapter is also not my best, I needed to get to a certain point by the end and some things happened last chapter that disrupted this ones start point. Thankfully I think this all came together. This mini homeworld arc ends tomorrow and after that we head back out to the fleet for some...important events. Hope you'll enjoy those then and I hope you'll enjoy this now.**

 **As always I'd love to hear from anyone either here or on Tumblr.**  
 **Thanks to everyone who has left feedback or fic recommendations so far, and I will see you all tomorrow**.

It was pretty clear from Pearls perspective that Yellow Diamond had no idea how to interact with Domina.

Even two years into Domina and Pearl's stay on Homeworld, their conversations were stilted. Domina was still unsure and intimidated by the other diamond, and Yellow Diamond not sure how to react to a being that was much more emotive than White Diamond had been. The two got along easier when the group, the two diamonds and their pearls, travelled to inspect various installations and research facilities. Both shared a love of technology, though even that couldn't overshadow Yellow Diamonds irritation with the young hybrid.

"Why can't you control yourself! You're not a Apatite, get your powers under control!" Yellow Diamond scolded Domina as they left a research lab that had had an gravity engine array knocked over by a gust of wind as Domina excitedly had asked questions about its applicability.

"I'm sorry," Domina was flying about mid air not unlike a Lapis. Pearl walked next to Yellow Pearl trying not keep her emotions under control, no good would come from shouting at Yellow Diamond now. "I just got excited, I didn't mean to-"

"Do not apologize!" Yellow said turning to girl, "For star's sake Domina, you're a Diamond! If you ever dream to live up to a fraction of what your mother was you need to figure out how to act like one!" Domina froze and fell maybe about ten feet before regaining her altitude. She didn't speak for the rest of the trip. And after that, even when they were alone, Pearl couldn't feel even the trace of a breeze.

This most recent trip was unplanned and perhaps if she had known about it ahead of time Pearl would have made an excuse to stay back. Neither her nor Yellow Pearl were thrilled about the trip to the Nursery in Yellow Diamonds District. Domina had been quiet, exceptionally so once Yellow diamond had exasperatedly told her what a Nursery was. And as the crystalline building loomed over head Domina started walk slower towards it, glancing back ever so often at the Pearls with a worried expression.

They were met at the door by a Morganite who bowed and scraped before both Diamonds before being cut off by Yellow Diamond. She led them into the building and Pearl tuned out the conversation, doing her best to ignore the countless tanks filled with water and artificial bivalves. Domina was on edge, her face seemed to have largely drained of blood and she also was staring at the tanks, her face for once showed no signs of her wanting to ask any questions.

No one but Pearl seemed perturbed by this. The Morganite prattled on about the work the nursery was doing, additional safety measures to be put on pearls during the culturing process.

"To prevent any future...unpleasentness." The morganite said barely glancing at White Diamond. Domina didn't say anything. "After all it's been proven that lower strata gems such as Peridots can be incubated with a different injected material and come out nearly as functional as those made in era one. Why shouldn't the same be done for pearls? We may be able to increase our production numbers by the end of this century."

"Exactly what do you have in mind? "Yellow diamond asked, she didn't seem to notice the discomfort from her fellow Diamond who was now staring openly at the room they had just entered. Not quite complete pearls sat inert in bins labeled: _Control, Voice, Height,_ and _Remote Disposal._

"Well Pearls are alreadly completely customizable, however in the wake of-" She was cut off with a sharp look from yellow diamond. "It has become prudent to consider installing security features in the event that a pearl is stolen or lost."

"Remote Disposal?" Domina asked, her voice betraying her horror. "But... that's a little.. much isn't it?"

"Well your Brilliance," The Morganite said with a pained smile. "Our thoughts here are that you can never be too careful. After all they are just Pearls, there are much more important gems on the line."

"That's not the point," Domina said, a soft wind was starting to blow through the room. Yellow Diamond jerked her head down to look at Domina.

"White now is not the-" She began lowly only to be cut off by the wind picking up.

"No! It's wrong you can't just do that!" The Morganite and both pearls began to back up from the two Diamonds

"White They're just Pearls!" Yellow snapped.

"Pearls are gems too!" Domina shouted back. The wind suddenly increased to a unstoppable gale and the room exploded, the walls shooting back and crashing into the rows of tanks. The bins on the table overturned sending thousands of fragile pearls crashing to the ground where they exploded like glass balls. Pink and Yellow Pearl were thrown back into the rubble. The Morganite poofed instantly as a flying piece of machinery ran her through. But Yellow Diamond managed to stay in the center of her room, fallen to her knees and clinging to the floor, making divots in the ground where her fingers clenched.

A second after the destruction the dust began to settle and Domina stood in the center of all the chaos her eyes wide as she saw the destruction she had caused. "I...I...I" She stuttered.

"Look what you've done!" Yellow shouted at her "What have I told you you must control your-" Domina didn't wait for Yellow to finish her statement, She shot out of the room and disappeared out of view before Yellow Diamond even had a chance to finish her sentence. Pink Pearl helped Yellow Pearl to her feet, the other pearl gingerly wiped the dust from her shoulders and looked at the destruction with horror

"Pearl, get a squad of citrines out to find White Diamond now!" Yellow Diamond ordered standing and moving aside debris so that she could exit the room.

"Yes my Diamond!" Yellow Pearl said snapping to attention.

"No!" Pink Pearl said spinning to face the diamond directly.

"Excuse me?" Yellow Diamond asked.

"She's fourteen years old and absolutely terrified!" Pink Pearl said, not caring if she was going to end up shattered in the diamonds rage, the last thing Domina needed was to be hunted down by a squad of unfamiliar quartzes.

"Watch yourself you insolent piece of nacre, You may not belong to me but the only reason you haven't been shattered is because that pebble doesn't have any idea what any gem is supposed to act like, much less a uppity pearl!" Yellow Diamond Snarled stalking towards her. Pearl held her ground, her mind feeling much braver than her body was.

"Well how is it going to look if a group of quartzes find an emotionally compromised Diamond hiding star's know where on homeworld," Pearl said ignoring yellow pearl's terrified stare. "I can find her in a few hours. And the authority still gets to save face." Pink said. There was another beat in which pearl was positive Yellow Diamond was simply going to step on her.

"Fine," Yellow Diamond said."Pearl?" Yellow Pearl looked back at her diamond immediately,

"Yes my Diamond?"

"Go with her, find White Diamond or I'll have you both shattered,"

"Uh..of course my diamond." Yellow Pearl said stunned. Pink Pearl inclined herself in a bow barely and ran off, Yellow Pearl scampering fearfully behind her.


	8. VIII

**I definitely did not plan on adding this many oc's to this story but really it should have been inevitable. I had a lot of fun writing this chapter and therefore it's a heck of a lot longer than I planned it to. Tomorrow we'll be back with the fleet and some other fun things will happen, which is a shame because I really have so much fun writing Yellow Pearl and Yellow Diamond. Anyway, enjoy the chapter, see you tomorrow!**

"What in stars name is wrong with you!" Yellow Pearl said the moment they were out of earshot of the Diamond. "We're never going to find her! We're going to end up shattered!"

"No we won't." Pink Pearl said. "We'll find her,"

"How? Pink this is madness!" Yellow stopped when Pink had already stepped up on the warp platform.

"Yellow I promise, You're not going to get shattered." She said "Come on, trust me, I have a plan." The pearl stared at her and shook her head before joining Pink on the pad.

The warp stream let out in a spire in Blue diamonds District, the hallway was completely empty with the exception of a black Pearl standing outside one of the study rooms. She glanced at the approaching Pearl's, looked away then did a double take when she saw Pink Pearl.

"What are you doing here?" Jet asked stepping away from her post and keeping her voice low.

"I need your help." Pink said.

"Well I can't just leave now, who's she?" Jet gestured to Yellow Pearl who was looking between the pearls completely baffled.

"Pink we don't have time for this" Yellow muttered.

"Yes we do," Pink said then turned back to Jet. "Don't worry about her, she's with me."

"Fine fine, whatever. What do you need?" Jet asked glancing worriedly back at her post.

"My Diamond's gone missing, do you have anyone in the lower city that might have seen her."

"I think someone would have noticed if a Diamond was traipsing through the lower city. What makes you think she's there anyway."

"She's.. Different." Pink said. Jet rolled her eyes.

"How old are you that you're still enamored with your owner? Much less one you weren't actually made for" Jet said. Pink frowned and projected a picture of Domina, one from this morning. Jet's mouth snapped shut. "Oh.. she is." She said.

"Exactly. As I said," Pink said

"Right, " Jet scribbled out a map and handed it to Pink Pearl, "Mauve keeps her eyes and ears more open than the rest of us. she knows just about everything that goes on down there, could probably even tell you where that 4 gem permafusion is lurking these days."

"Permafusion?" Yellow hissed. Pink waved her off.

"Thank you." Pink said.

"Don't mention it. And make sure she doesn't either." Jet said with a pointed look at Yellow who scoffed.

"Pearl!" A Jet's voice called from the room where the black pearl had been standing outside. Jet Pearl turned suddenly and quickly ducked into the room with a dutiful smile plastered back across her face.

"So what I've learned is that it's completely possible that the Renegade was completely sane and that it's apparently being White Diamond's Pearl that turns you into a traitorous clod." Yellow said as Pink led the way into the quiet side streets of homeworld, slowly descending into the older parts of the city.

"I am not a traitor." Pink Pearl said.

"Yes because hushed meetings in places you have no buisness being in just scream 'loyal subject'." Yellow Pearl said stepping daintily around the wreckage

"No one would ask, nobody on homeworld would question one of the Diamond's Pearls."

"You know I swear I heard White say the same thing before she ran off with that Quartz."

"Well I'm not planning on running off without any quartzes."

"What about a spear, have you tried to summon some kind of ridiculous looking spear, or learned to use a sword?"

"A sword really isn't my style Yellow."

"Pink I'm being serious!"

"So am I," Pink said stopping outside a cavern "Wait here"

"You can't leave me here!" Yellow said plaintively

"I'm not I'm just going in, I won't be long, keep watch." she said. Yellow Pearl grumbled and turned with her back to the cavern opening glancing up and down the empty tunnel. Pink Pearl stepped into the cavern, fully expecting it to be empty like the one she had met Blue and Jet in.

Instead inside the cavern sat a tall gem with mauve skin. The mauve colored pearl was on the back of her left hand and she had a purple cloak wrapped around her. She was carving into the rock around her, large designs of the tunnels underneath homeworld.

"Jet sent you?" the Mauve said without looking at Pink.

"Er, yes she did, I'm guessing you're Mauve?"

"I am, what is it you need?" Mauve put down the tool she was using and turned to face Pink Pearl with a weary smile, her eyes were covered by her long hair, not unlike Blue Pearls. Most obviously there was another stone set into her collar bone, a mauve colored sapphire "No one ever comes to me if they are not searching for something, or someone."

"It's my.." Pearl hesitated, not sure how much she should tell the fusion "It's someone a bit different, she would have come down here maybe an hour ago." Pink Pearl projected the picture of Domina she had before. "There probably would be a lot of wind wherever she is."

"Ah the new Diamond." Mauve said. "Looking for home in a place decidedly unhomely." Pink Pearl blinked.

"How do you.." she began to ask. Mauve waved her off.

"A sapphires predictive powers often take different turn when fused. You are not disturbed by my appearance?"

"I have more important things to worry about." Pink Pearl said. Mauve chuckled.

"Right you are, you will find your Diamond in the caverns underneath what used to be Pink Diamonds district." Mauve said. "You will feel the winds as you get closer."

"Thank you," Pink Pearl said "Is.. is there anything I can do for you?" Mauve hummed in thought for a moment.

"Our paths will cross again, I may ask something of you then, but you will not be obligated by me."

"Well I will do my best to help you then." Pink Pearl said, not necessarily put at ease by that statement. Mauve smiled broadly.

"I know you will."

"Why in star's name would she come here?" Yellow Pearl asked once they had once again left the crowds of the streets above and descended into the ancient kindergarten, following the strength of the breeze. "If it had been her own district that might have made a bit of sense."

"I don't know, maybe it was just the first one she came across, Kindergartens are probably the most familiar thing to her on this planet."

"Which is another thing that is greatly distressing to my diamond." Yellow muttered. Pink sighed.

"At this point what about Domina doesn't 'distress' Yellow Diamond."

"Well-"

"Wait." Pink Pearl said stopping, the winds had stopped. "Frack," She muttered, then cupped her hands in front of her mouth. "Domina!" She shouted. Her voice echoed out into the tunnels and caverns but garnered no response.

"We're going to be shattered, this is it." Yellow said rubbing her hands through her hair.

"We're not going to be shattered!" Pink snapped. "We're going to find her and everything's going to be fi-"

"And just what are you two doing down here?" a gruff voice said behind them. Yellow jumped and spun around. Pink Pearl turned and saw a pair of Jaspers standing behind them with folded arms. One with her gem on her left eye and one with her gem on her right shoulder.

"We..we.." Yellow stuttered and glanced at Pink who was frantically trying to figure out whether she should try to make an excuse or just attempt to shoot both Jaspers.

"They were waiting for me." Domina's voice said. Pink Pearl turned and saw Domina walking slowly up the opposite direction.

"And just who are you?" The eye Jasper asked. "No one's supposed to be down here."

"I'm ..white diamond." Domina said after a moment. The Jaspers looked at each other and burst into laughter.

"Yeah right, I've seen White diamond and she's certainly not some trumped up pebble. What even are you?" The Shoulder Jasper said.

"Doesn't matter, You get the Pearls, I'll take care of the Diamond impersonator." Eye Jasper waved off her counterparts statement.

Yellow and Pink stared at eachother then back at Domina who looked momentarily crushed, and then indescribably angry. Her gem glowed and once again the caverns began to fill with Wind. The Quartzes stopped laughing and looked around in puzzlement. Pink pulled Yellow out of the way.

"I told you, I'm white diamond" Domina said, her voice had taken on a different more forceful tone. A much more Diamond like tone "Now leave my friends alone."

The walk back to Yellow Diamonds quarters was very quiet. Domina didn't say anything, there was no wind. Yellow Diamond didn't say much when they returned, just informed Domina that her pearl was beginning to show signs of a defect and that she should consider getting a new one. Domina grunted noncommittally and left with Pink Pearl trailing behind her to bear the full assault of Yellow diamonds gaze.

"Do you hate me?" Domina asked when they were in the warp stream to go back to the ship.

"My Diamond?" Pink Pearl asked startled.

"Please Please don't call me that Pearl" Domina said softly. Her arms hung limply at her side and she stared at her feet. The pair appeared in the ship's entrance room. "I shattered all those gems and I ran away and you and Yellow's pearl had to come find me and I'm not a good diamond and I-" Domina said the wind was back, blowing Domina's hair around. Pearl hesitated and hugged her.

"I don't hate you Domina, Nobody does."

"Yellow Does!" Domina cried, she hugged Pearl and hung onto her tightly "I want to go home!" She wailed. "I want to go back to the fleet! I'm never going to be like mother and I don't want to be!"

They stayed like that for a while in the center of a vortex. Domina had grown enough that she had to lean down to rest her face on Pearls shoulder and Pearl just held her for as long as she wanted. Eventually both the crying and the wind stopped leaving only a slight breeze, Domina wiped her face on the back of her sleeve only for Pearl to retrieve a handkerchief from her gem and dab at her eyes.

"You don't have to be like your mother." Pink Pearl said. "And no one should make you feel like you have to try."

"But I'm not a good diamond, I say the wrong things and get excited and knock things over and I'm too short and I can summon a sword and-"

"And none of that matters. Your you. You're a diamond." Pearl gently brushed back Domina's hair and touched her gem. "And you're Domina." Domina looked at her, eyes still wet and face more blotchy than normal. "You're both, and you get to decide what that means."


	9. IX

**Well I loved the first half of this chapter, the second half was not quite what I wanted but I won't complain to much as this is already a shorter chapter (though in my defence yesterdays was quite long) The series Vulgaris Adamas, does have it's own tumblr now: domina-alba. tumblr. com**

 **If you want to follow me there I'm open to answer any questions about the stories and you might occasionally see bits and pieces of things that didn't quite make the cut. Anon is currently on for questions and I'll even take requests for short scenes.**  
 **We have roughly 2-3 chapters left in this story then there will be a few one shots before we hit the sequel, and guys, I'm really REALLY excited for that.**

 **I hope you enjoy todays chapter and I'll see you tomorrow!**

The shuttle back to the fleet was much nicer. The ceilings were higher and the seats in the passenger compartment was more comfortable. The ceiling's still weren't quite tall enough for Domina to stand after her last growth spurt but she could at least stretch out on one of the seats. She had a computer visor on, a parting gift from Yellow diamond, and was flipping through the most recent reports on 19-H25.

"I need to get my own ship." Domina said. "These shuttles are too small."

"We could have taken the flagship back." Pearl reminded her. Domina made a face.

"I'd prefer something a little less.. head shaped." She said. Pearl chuckled.

"You can commission one when we get back."

"I will," She said. The ship jerked slightly as it came out of FTL and started making the final descent to the planet. Domina sat up and glanced at the screen showing the outside, nervously drummed her fingers on her knee.

"They're going to be happy to have you back." Pearl said. Domina nodded.

"I know. Pater's been telling me they're excited. I just.. don't want to let them down." Domina said.

"You won't My Diamond." Pearl said. Domina smiled softly.

"Thanks Pearl."

The shuttle landed where a similar one had twelve years previously. The hanger once again, was packed, the mood was much tenser this time. Pearl opened the door ahead of Domina and stepped out first, standing off to the side. Domina ducked down underneath the doorway and glanced around at the hanger.

Vitus was directly in front of the ship, his hair had gone mostly grey and his face had a few more wrinkles. Behind him stood Mossy Agate along with the fleets Beryls, and behind them were the quartzes with their Agates along with the rest of the colony support staff. The moment Domina set foot onto the planet's surface the gems present snapped a salute. Domina pursed her lips and inclined herself slightly.

Pearl stood off to the side and watched the unease on both sides. Then Domina stepped forward with two long strides and hugged Vitus, she now towered over him by almost a full foot. He chuckled and hugged her back.

"By the gods I hope your done growing." He said "It is good to see you again my daughter, in person." Domina grinned, the first truly natural and easy smile Pearl had seen in months.

"It's good to be back," She said, then looked over at Mossy Agate with a grin

.

"My Diamond." Mossy Agate said stiffly. "Welcome back."

Domina's smile wavered for half a second but she nodded back at the gem then quickly moved to hug Mossy as well, They stood at roughly the same height now. Mossy looked surprised by the sudden hug but patted Domina's back.

Pearl smiled slightly as the tension in the room suddenly diffused, the quartzes and various support staff broke from their positions at the edges of the room and swarmed to say hello to Domina or ask her about her visor, or joke with her about her height. Beryls leaned forward to shake her hand and talk to her about the comments she had made on their projects over the last twelve years. Vitus approached Pearl amidst all this chaos and slung an arm around her shoulder.

"Good to see you too Pearl." He said.

"Likewise Vitus."

Being back with the fleet made things harder on Pearls end. Domina was much more interested in what they were decommissioning as they were getting ready to change planets . However she did have a much wider range considering Domina was often pulled into meetings with all of the colony heads. This meant that Pearl could inspect the store room for decommissioned materials in private and transmit to Jet or Blue about what they had. She was discussing with Blue what was on the latest request list when the door suddenly opened.

Pearl cut the transmission instantly and spun to see Mossy Agate standing in the doorway with her usual impassive expression.

"Mossy Agate." Pearl said, internally she panicked, she knew that Mossy tended to be a little more observant that the other Agates, had she caught onto what she was doing?

"Pearl." Mossy said and nodded at her. She began glancing over the room. "There was something here transmitting off planet."

"How strange." Pearl said keeping her voice level and slowly backing towards the door.

"Yes." Mossy said, she paused and continued to look through the shelves "You know I've been noticing a portion of this material is being moved to a warehouse on Homeworld instead of the normal disposal yards."

"Is it?" Pearl said feigning innocence

"It is."

"Interesting."

"Perhaps," Mossy turned to address her fully, she had a thin smile on her face. "You know what's really strange is that whatever it was is was transmitting in the upper frequencies. If it had been on one of the lower ones we would have never noticed." Pearl nodded and went to open the door.

"Pearl?"

"Yes Mossy Agate?"

"You don't happen to know what this is all going to, do you?"

"No Mossy Agate, it's not any of my business"

"Ah, I'm sure." Mossy said. She flipped the light off behind her and exited just behind Pearl. "Well whatever was transmitting I'm sure it's harmless." she looked pointedly at Pearl. Pearl wasn't sure what this exchange had meant, whether it was a warning or an assurance of secrecy. Still she kept her demeanour impassive and nodded back to Mossy Agate.

"I'm positive it was." She said. Mossy smiled.

"Excellent, I may have some additional materials that... may be able to be put to use by whatever entities have interest in this warehouse. I will send you the manifest."

"Yes of course" Pearl said stunned, she didn't know how else to respond. Mossy agate nodded and began to walk away. "Mossy." Pearl said. The agate stopped and pivoted. "The.. transmission, will anyone else be informed?"

"No, like the warehouse it will be kept on a need to know basis."

"And who needs to know?" Pearl asked. Mossy Agate smiled.

"I can't think of anyone outside the two of us, can you?"

"No."

"Good, that will be all." Mossy said. Pearl frowned but didn't bother to correct her. They were both already getting away with so much.


	10. X

**A wonderful little chapter full of cases of mistaken identity, diamonds jumping out of airlocks and Pearl having a heart attack. It was fun to write, and I hope it's fun to read. If you want something else to read over on the blog for this series (domina- alba. tumblr. com) you can read about something even more amazing, Domina and Yellow Diamond getting along.**

 **See you tomorrow!**

The nearest gem base was still rather remote. It was on the edge of the empires ever growing control, but it was still bustling with activity. The main section of the colonization fleet had been docked there for nearly a week now.

Domina's presence didn't cause nearly as much of a stir as white diamonds presence normally would, mostly by virtue of the fact that no one knew who she was, as she wasn't readily recognizable. Domina enjoyed being able to walk across the base with Pearl or the quartzes or her father in relative anonymity. The crew were more relaxed on base. Everyone still had work to do but until the orders and fresh crews came in there wasn't any pressure.

Which did mean that some of the gems got into trouble, there were all kinds of unsupervised sparring matches going on. Peridots tricked out and programmed flask robonoids to fight each other. Nephrites racing the small shuttles the base had through the asteroid cluster the base was located in. Domina was thrilled by all of this and could often be found in the middle of a group who had just been caught by one of the Agates, which cut short most of the scolding they delivered. Pearl and Vitus chided Domina in private and domina looked suitably apologetic for long enough before she dived back into the next bout of trouble.

Around 2 months in the fresh set of gems started to come in, most notably a new peridot to oversee the installation of the warp system on the new colony planet that was going to eventually be turned over to blue diamond's was following Domina out of a meeting with the colonies beryls.

"Goshenite!" a peridot's voice called. Pearl frowned and glanced back, she saw the era 1 peridot but didn't see any goshenite's ,She was pretty sure there weren't any on base. The peridot was heading right for Domina and Pearl realized what was going on a fraction of a second too late.

"Excuse me Goshenite" The Peridot had stopped right in front of Domina who nearly ran her over but stopped just in time. The gem saluted her and Domina blinked. Then she turned back to look at Pearl and mouthed 'Goshenite?' Pearl shrugged. Domina chuckled slightly.

"What is it Peridot?"

"My apologies for interrupting you, but I am looking for the Gem in charge of the prime fleet division." Peridot said. "Normally I would not bother you your transparency but I haven't been able to get anyone to give me a straight answer."

"It's absolutely fine, What's your cut and facet?" Domina asked. Pearl saw the Peridot blanch slightly, that was never a question you wanted to hear from a superior, though she knew Domina meant it completely innocently.

"1F7-9YN" The peridot stuttered out. Domina smiled.

"Nice to meet you 9YN, You want Mossy Agate, I'll take you too her,"

"That's not necessary your transparency, if you would just point me in the direction-"

"No no it's fine I was headed that way myself." Domina said waving her objections away. Pearl fell behind the peridot and saw that the Peridots gem was on the back of her skull, a slightly unusual position. "So you're going to be with the prime division? You must be our new warp administrator."

"Yes. I am quite excited, this will be my first time aboard a colony fleet. And to be in white Diamonds personnel division, such and honor!" the peridot said. Domina looked amused and Pearl bit back a laugh.

"Yes..." Domina said. Several gems, the ones that knew who Domina was saluted but were cut off by mentioning her name by a quick and rapid head shake from the Diamond while the Peridot wasn't paying attention.

"What's going on?" Milky Quartz 9ZQ asked Pearl and the Peridot had drifted a few feet ahead.

"She thinks Domina is a Goshenite." Pearl said with barely contained mirth. Milky Quartz laughed garnering attention from Domina who put her finger of her mouth, still sporting a huge smile. 9ZQ muffled her laughed and eagerly followed the trio to Mossy Agates temporary office. Mossy was sitting on the edge of the desk talking to Vitus who had settled into the chair. She blinked at the motley crew that walked in.

"Hello Mossy, this is our new warp system admin." Domina said gesturing to 9YN.

"Ah, yes thank you my diamond, 9ZQ don't you have somewhere else to be?"

"Nah." 9ZQ Said. Pearl watched from Domina's right side the peridots face contort in confusion. She turned to look at domina who returned her look eyes go comically wide.

"Diamond..oh my stars!" The Peridot lept away from domina and saluted bowing deeply. "Your brilliance forgive me I'm so so sorry I meant no offence I did not realize-" Pearl saw domina's smile fade the moment the Peridot used her title.

"Oh come on we were having such a nice chat." Domina said.

"What happened?" Vitus asked.

"She thought she was a Goshenite!" 9ZQ said cackling. The Peridot shook slightly, her face had gone bright red. Mossy frowned.

"9ZQ, leave please." she said.

"Yeah yeah fine, see you later Domina." 9ZQ left after clapping the Diamond on the back. Domina rolled her eyes and lowered herself very slightly to the peridot's level.

"No harm done, it is very nice to meet you though 9NY, I'm glad to have you with us."

A week before the prime division of the fleet was due to leave the base was shaken by an explosion and a then the wailing of the alarms. Pearl and domina were working in their temporary quarters while Vitus took a nap on the couch. Vitus sprung awake milliseconds after Domina had sprinted out the door.

"What? What's going on?" he asked with a groan.

"I know as much as you do!" Pearl shouted back as she took off after Domina. The girl easily outpaced her, Pearl didn't have the advantage of a position imposing enough to cause normal gems to get out of her way. She caught up with Domina at the source of the explosion, a massive chunk of the base had been ripped off. The Breach was sealed now with an anti hard light base head, an Emerald, was rapidly ordering around the nearby gem to check the other area's of the ship.

"What happened?" Domina ordered, she didn't exactly look the part of a diamond, she had been attempting to relax so she was barefoot and her hair was in all kinds of disarray. Pearl saw the Emerald give her a double take before snapping a salute.

"My Diamond, it seems an asteroid slipped passed our sensors, it knocked off this section of the station, I've just dispatched a batch of flask robonoids to repai-"

"Was anyone on board?" domina interrupted

"Well yes, a few peridots, some rubies maybe no important gems, everything is-"

"Get a crew out there to get them." Domina said. The Emerald blinked.

"My Diamond thats unnecessary, there were no essential gems on board that portion of the base." The Emerald said. Domina's face darkened.

"Someone has to go get them."

"I'm afraid all personnel that would be qualified to get a ship out there is otherwise occupied my diamond"

"I can take a shuttle."

"I don't have any shuttles to spare my diamond!" The Emerald said. Pearl could already see how this was going to play out and reached forward to grab onto Domina. She was a fraction of a second too late. The Diamond ran for the barrier, pulling air around herself.

"Domina don't you dare!" Pearl shouted right before Domina dived through the barrier. At this point Vitus came around the corner.

"What in Hades name just happened." Vitus said his eyes wide. Pearl didn't answer she felt cold and frozen as she watched the faintly glowing figure of Domina flying towards the separated piece of the base. Pearl was aware of the panic going on around her, but she couldn't do anything to contribute or to explain. She kept her eyes trained on Domina thinking of a thousand horrible ways this could go wrong. Thinking of a hundred outcomes of Domina dying. Thinking of no outcome in which she would ever forgive herself if Domina didn't come back safe.

The Diamond in question seemed to be doing fine, she was moving quickly, stopping every once and awhile. Then she turned and launched herself back towards the station, she broke through the barrier with a crackle of static and collapsed on the ground holding a cluster of red and green gems to her chest. The spell was broken and Pearl was the first by her side, followed seconds later by Vitus.

"Domina! Domina!" Pearl said shaking the girl. Domina's eyes opened, and she groaned

"Ow!" She said loudly, "That was definitely not my best idea I think I got everyone though!"

"Domina what were you thinking!" Vitus shouted at her.

"What?" Domina shouted back.

"I SAID WHAT WERE YOU-"

"I can't hear you! I think I burst my eardrums! They really hurt!" Domina said. She had stopped smiling then looked around and saw the Emerald. "Here! Take them!" She said handing the emerald the collection of the gems. "If there's any one missing let me know and I'll go check it out again!" She said still shouting. The emerald nodded speechless.

"You will not!" Pearl snapped.

"What?!" Domina shouted back.

"You will-Argh!" Pearl said helping Domina to her feet. She turned to the Emerald furiously."Send someone else to check out the wreckage, She is not going back out there."

"But I-"

"Now!" Pearl ordered channeling all of her anger towards this simpering buerecrat who scampered off

"Wow Pearl you look really upset!" Domina said "Sorry! I figured I had at least a minute before I couldn't fight the vacuum anymore!" Domina said loudly. Pearl groaned and headed back to their Quarters, a shouting and apologetic Diamond behind her.


	11. XI

**Hey guys, the penultimate chapter is here today. I hope you like it. it was difficult to write. in the comments I would really really like to know what you thought of the ending to this chapter. If you don't want to post to the comments you could come tell me on domina- alba. tumblr. com .** **  
** **See you tomorrow when I'll tell you more about what comes next.** **  
** **Enjoy!**

' _Are you still screening your diamonds reports?'_ the message came in while Pearl and Domina were in the hanger on board of the currently docked dropship. The Diamond had shed her coat and was in the process of gutting a Dropship dart that had been cast aside during the fleets last upgrade. There was a crash and Pearl scrambled to the source to see Domina had pulled the main section of the engine off and it had fallen on the floor. She breathed a sigh of relief.

"My Diamond You really don't have to do this, if you wanted the ship stripped down we could have gotten some peridots or other gems suited to the task to do it."

"No no it's fine, I don't want to take anyone away from their work." Domina said waving her off. She bent down and slowly picked up the engine section and carried it too the table sitting just outside the dart.

"You could have commissioned a ship like I suggested."

"I could have but this is more fun,"

"Yes, "Pearl glanced at the wrecked interior and the smattering of parts around the outside. " fun." Domina looked at her with a grin.

"You don't have to stay if you don't want to Pearl, I know this isn't your area of interest." She said. Pearl hesitated, even after all this time it was difficult to tell if Domina truly did not want her nearby or if she was simply giving pearl the opportunity to have some time to herself.

"If it's all the same to you My Diamond I will go back to your quarters and check on Vitus. I also need to put in the next food order." At the mention of her father Domina's grin faded and she nodded.

"Right, thank you, please let me know if he needs me." Pearl nodded and turned to leave. "Oh and Pearl?" Domina called.

"Yes Domina?" She asked turning back,

"Will you put in a request for one of those engines they used to put on the light kites?" Domina asked, Pearl looked at the ship the woman was working on and then at the engine pieces. She sighed.

"Of course my diamond"

Pearl didn't go straight to Domina's quarters. Instead she ducked into an unoccupied room and answered the sender-less message.

' _Yes'_ there was no response for several moments.

' _A remote outpost has been claimed by the rebellion. We believe that a request for backup has been sent to White diamond herself. If that backup is approved and arrives then we're shattered.'_ Pearls form went cold. They had taken an outpost? Where? And now they wanted her to hide that information from Domina. Not that she wasn't already hiding her involvement with this whole mess from the diamond.

' _I understand_ ' she replied not pledging anything. She closed out her console and went about her task, heading back to the Diamonds quarters at the back of the ship.

Vitus was asleep when she went in. He was sleeping a lot these last few days, He said he was just tired but Pearl and Domina both knew he had been hiding an illness for months. Pearl had contacted the technicians at the Human zoo and they had said nothing could be done.

She briefly looked in on him, reassured herself with the rise and fall of his chest and went about placing the order, doing laundry and generally tidying up. When that was done she sat and opened up her account, there at the top was a request for reinforcements for a sentry outpost on the very outer rim of the empire's reach. Pearl opened it and scanned the contents, the base had been overrun by insurgents, there was no one else nearby that could help. Pearl hovered between the transfer and delete options.

"Pearl?" a soft voice called from the other room. Pearl jumped in surprise, quickly closed out her console and went to vitus's room.

"Vitus what is it?" She asked. The old man was sitting up on the bed and was in the process of reaching for his cane.

"Pearl quis est Domina?" He said, his voice was shaky and he was struggling to . Pearl Stopped him.

"Vitus she's in the hanger what is it, what's wrong.

"Mihi op- I, I need to speak with her" He said looking up at her.

"I'll get her just wait here I'll be right back." Pearl said. Vitus stared up at her and nodded.

"Please."

Pearl slid into the room with a glass of water and set it next to Vitus. Domina sat on the bed next to her father holding his hand and going over the creases in his skin with her thumb.

"No Pearl, stay please" Vitus said as the she began to head back for the door. Pearl stopped and looked uncomfortably at Domina and Vitus, Domina didn't look back at her, she was staring at her father's face like she was trying to engrave it into her mind.

"Are you sure Vitus I shouldn't intrude-"

"Pearl" Vitus said his voice was weak but the power behind his words made up for that. "Your family, not an intruder. Please stay." Pearl felt a brief flicker of a smile.

"Vitus gems don't have family." She said. Vitus let out a chuckle that turned into a coughing fit, Domina quickly supplied him with the water pearl had brought in. He drank, and carefully handed it back to Domina.

"Bullshit." He said.

"Pater you really should rest." Domina said. "You'll feel better after you always do."

"Domina all the rest in the cosmos won't help me now," He said taking her hand "You know that." Domina shook her head. Pearl hesitated

"We could take you to the zoo, see if there's anything the technicians there could do for you." She offered. Vitus's eyes went dark.

"No. I'm old you two. It happens, death is natural." He said.

"No it's not." Domina said softly. "Not to gems."

"I'm not a gem Domina, neither are you technically. It's how things were on earth, how things are there now" He said with finality. Domina didn't say anything. She wiped her eyes and turned away. Vitus reached for her and hugged her close.

"Tear's are nothing to be ashamed of. Emotions are a sign of strength not weakness, remember that." He said softly. Domina chuckled very slightly, more with gasping sobs than with any kind of mirth. She pulled away a moment later

"Do you ever wish you had gone home instead?" she asked

"Instead?" Vitus asked "Instead of what? Instead of travelling through the stars? Instead of raising you?" Vitus attempted to sit up and Pearl quickly helped him, trying not to think about how light he was. She attempted to retreat back to her position by the door but Vitus lay a gentle hand on her arm and gestured for her to sit on the opposite side from Domina.

Pearl looked at Domina who gave her a forced, weak barely there smile, so unlike the grin she had gotten hours before.

"Domina," Vitus continued "I have done things no man back on earth could ever conceive of doing, and I have the most amazing daughter in the universe, I do not regret staying." He glanced to Pearl "I didn't think I'd make it this far though." He said almost conspiratorially. "I thought that White diamond would have gotten sick of me and thrown me out an airlock within my first week on the ship." Pearl smiled.

"She almost did if I remember right, you were quite obnoxious."

"Were? I think I'm still a thorn in Mossy's side, at least for now."

"Should I go get her?" Domina asked standing up suddenly. Vitus winced slightly.

"No Domina, sit back down, me and Mossy Agate have made our peace." Domina lowered herself carefully back onto the bed.

"Right." She bit her lip Vitus took her hand.

"I am so proud of you, you came back from Homeworld with your beliefs intact, you've risked your life to save gems you don't know, you know everyone in the fleet by name. You care more about these gems than most of them care about each other." Vitus said. "And you're going to be ok."

"I won't have you, how will I..." Domina's words died in her throat.

"You haven't needed me in a long time." Vitus said with a soft smile "And that's all I could hope for at this point, that means I don't have to anything left to teach you."

"That's not true!"

"It is, we both know I haven't had anything of value to teach you since you were nine years old."

"But I..I." Domina sputtered out before breaking into another round of tears. Vitus pulled her gently to his chest again, she was too tall so she didn't quite fit but vitus held her there nonetheless. While he held his daughter he looked at Pearl.

"You'll watch out for her?" He asked. Pearl smiled, though the smiles way to her eyes was blocked by tears.

"When have I not Vitus, I will be there for her for..." _as long as she want's me_ she almost said. "For as long as she needs me" she amended. Vitus nodded and kissed his daughter's forehead, just above the gem.

"You'll watch out for Pearl right?" He asked. Domina sat up and wiped her face again.

"Of course, of course why wouldn't I?" Domina said with a tear filled smile at Pearl. Pearl leaned over and placed a hand on Domina's shoulder comfortingly.

"Good." Vitus said with a contented smile, he had relaxed back onto the bed. "Take care of each other, that's all I ask for."

When the body was taken away and Domina was fitfully sleeping next to her Pearl deleted the request from the station, they had more important things to worry about.


	12. XII

**That's all she wrote folks!, er well this is. Thank you to everyone who's been reading this fic despite it's massive amount of OC's. I've really treasured every like and comment I've gotten. I'm going to be doing some work on both this fic and Domina Alba, making sure the stories align with each other better, and keep on the look out for a one shot that will be coming out to set the scene for the sequel (which should start posting sometime around the beginning on the year.**

 **Once again thank you so much, and I hope you enjoy this last chapter.**

The Person that placed a piece of gold into Vitus's mouth before the cremation was not the leader of gem kind.

The person that clung to Pearls hand like a vise was not the oldest and wisest gem in existence.

The person that held back sobs and put on a brave face as her father's remains were incinerated was not White Diamond.

The room was packed with nearly everyone on base though the silence was deafening enough that it might as well be empty. No knew what to do. This didn't happen for gems, there was no protocol, no programming to prepare them, they just felt like they should be there. Domina stared at the furnace, though there was nothing to look at. The process was almost complete. Afterwards Vitus had requested that his ashes be shot towards the earth, so he could 'make his own way home'.

The silence was broken by a song. Pearl glanced around because if she wasn't singing then who would be? Her eyes landed on Domina. She was singing a song Pearl hadn't heard in years. It was about Orpheus, one of the hero's from Vitus's stories, the man who travelled to the Underworld to bargain with the God of Death for his wife. The silence from the rest of the room was more out of shock than anything else. The song rose higher and higher until Domina struggled to reach the notes, it then sunk as Orpheus's wife was sucked back into the Underworld. When the song ended the sensor indicated the process was complete. Domina moved to retrieve the urn but was stopped by Mossy Agate.

The gem took the plain urn from the furnace and winced as she held it while the heat dissipated then handed it to Domina. Pearl felt Domina's form shift slightly in her grasp as she accepted the urn from Mossy. Pearl looked at the girl and saw that her face had aged ever so slightly, her appearance was slightly more haggard, there were faint wrinkles around her eyes.

Domina turned and walked slowly out of the room, a procession of gems followed her as she made her way to the control room. Anti spacecraft cannons weren't used very often but the fleet prepared for any kind of emergency. One of the rubies opened the ammo hatch for Domina and she wordlessly slid it in and took a step back. There was a moment of calibration as the cannon turned towards the crystal system. Domina stared up at the Sky, at the cannon and as the weapon charged itself to fire she let go of Pearls hand for the first time in several hours.

After a moment she managed to coordinate her arms into a clumsy salute. Pearl copied, then Mossy Agate, then the quartzes and peridots and all the gems saluted as cannon fired and the silver urn shot towards the sky, out of the atmosphere and eventually out of sight.

Domina didn't cry. She didn't laugh either, or even talk much. Pearl had been used to White Diamonds lack of emotion but Domina always felt something. The girl she had watched grow though was now almost a shadow of herself. She didn't return to the quarters more than maybe twice a day to use the restroom. She didn't read through her mother's journals, instead she worked mechanically on the ship she had been building that night Vitus died. She slept restlessly in the hanger. And she was aging.

Thats what scared Pearl the most out of anything. Domina would sleep fitfully with her back against the side of the ship, leaning on Pearls shoulder. Every so often there would be a flash of light and an older version of Domina would replace the one that had been there previously. Her long hair faded to a shiny iridescent grey, her face became more gaunt than it had ever been, she slowed and her hands fumbled to work with the tools. Pearl was rendered almost immobile with panic but still she tried.

She made sure Domina ate, pulled her away from her work to sleep, made sure that anything that would normally require her diamonds attention was taken care of. One night the woman had fallen asleep and the glow came and left someone that was more skeleton than human or gem. Then Pearls proverbial heart stopped as she felt Domina stop breathing.

"No!" She cried turning to the diamond and shaking her. "No Domina you can't!" the breathing started again and Domina jolted awake, her bloodshot eyes looking around wildly before they settled on Pearl.

"What, Pearl no let me sleep..." She said hoarsely, eyes drifting closed again.

"No Domina!" Pearl ordered despair rising in her voice. "No you can't. You can't go back to

sleep, something's wrong you..you"

"I've aged, I know." Domina muttered. "Who cares? I'm done, there's no point, I'll go to sleep, the empire will move one."

"I care domina! I need you!"

"No you don't. Your ten times more competent than me, you'll probably be better off without me, everyone would."

"That's not true Domina you're my diamond!"

"I'm not a gem."

"And your not human either, you cannot die on me!"

"But it hurts." She said. And for the first time in weeks Pearl saw true emotion on Domina's wizened face. Pain, so much pain filled her eyes and shoulders, She didn't cry but her voice shook. "Pearl I don't want to do this anymore. I can't do this anymore. I miss him so much."

"I-I know." Pearl said, her eyes tear filled. She pulled the girl close and reassured herself with the rhythm of her heart, as long as that was there Domina was still with her. "Your father protected me more than once, he treated me like any other gem he was..." Pearl paused and grasped for the word. "He was my first true friend in your mother's court. And you know what?" She asked. There was a pause, Domina was still breathing, there was a flash and instead of older now she was younger, as she had been earlier that night.

"What?" Domina asked, a question, a real question.

"He gave me you, your the best thing that's ever happened to me Domina. And he told you you had to look out for me. Remember that?" She said softly, pleading with all her form that this would work, that this would save her.

"You don't need me to look out for you." Domina said.

"I do!" Pearl said, crying now. Crying for the first time since Vitus's Death, for the first time since Domina had been born, for the first time since Pink diamond had been shattered. She cried, inelegantly, sobs racking her body, tears streaming down her face. "I need you now more than ever," Through her tears Pearl could see Domina's face grow concerned, there was another flash and her face looked less gaunt, a steady hand wiped the tears from her face.

"Don't cry Pearl." Domina said. "I'm sorry," She pulled her close "Please don't cry, I'm sorry I'm so sorry."

They ended up sleeping like that, the fact that Pearl slept in the first place was nearly unheard of, what's more she managed to sleep through Domina waking and gently moving her to the side.

When Pearl did wake up it was to Domina gathering tools. She was back to normal, all wrinkles and signs of age gone. She smelled fresh, like she had just gotten out of the shower, and she was eating one of the purple rations sent from the Human zoo. Her hair was short now, and stuck out at odd angles. When she heard Pearl stirring Domina stopped her work and gave Pearl an uneasy smile.

"Hey, sorry if I woke you but I figured you deserve the rest." She said. Pearl Shook her head and stood.

"Thank you, you look,"She mulled over how to phrase it "better." Domina barked out a short burst of laughter.

"Thanks,"

"And what did you do to your hair?"

"I cut it... with my sword, it was all I had handy at the time." Domina said sheepishly fiddling with the uneven ends. Pearl sighed and went over to inspect it.

"Why?"

"Felt like the right thing to do, besides" Domina said, "It was getting in the way."

"I'll get some cutters and fix it," Pearl said. There was an awkward pause.

"Uh could you get a Peridot to look this over and mount the new engine, it's almost done," Domina said rubbing her arm. "I thought.. Maybe after it was done we could take a trip."

"Where do you have in mind my diamond?" PEarl asked.

"Anywhere that doesn't remind me of Pater." Domina said quickly. Pearl nodded.

"Oh course Domina."

"And Pearl?"

"Yes?"

"Thank you, so much. I don't know what I'd do without you." Pearl smiled and hugged Domina.

"You won't ever have to find out."


End file.
